User-agent: Mediapartners-Google* Disallow: Trucks World News: May 2015
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May 31, 2015

AGING TRUCKS * Australia - New technology fuel PacLease in

* Queensland - TRUCKMAKERS NEW: Paccar's


-- In Australia, where highways are long and trucks, increasingly, are old, Paccar Leasing sees opportunity. The rental and leasing arm of U.S.-based truck manufacturer Paccar recently opened shop in Melbourne and plans to expand throughout the country, where the average age of heavy trucks foretells strong potential replacement demand... PacLease’s plans for Australia point to a global need for more technologically up-to-date, fuel-efficient, low-emissions trucks on highways, in cities and at ports. That scope of that demand is evident in where the leasing subsidiary of $18.9 billion Bellevue, Washington-based Paccar does business: North America, including the U.S., Canada and Mexico, Europe and now Australia... PacLease isn’t rolling into a new market for Paccar. The manufacturer began selling trucks in Australia in the 1960s and building trucks there in the 1970s. Kenworth and DAF vehicles account for about 25 percent of Australian heavy-truck sales... 
(Photo: Olen Hunter, director PacLease Australia, at the Brisbane Truck Show earlier this month)  --  Brisbane, QNLD, Australia - J.O.C., by William B. Cassidy - May 26, 2015

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TRUCKING INVESTMENTS * Australia - Japan Post takes full control of Toll

* As expansion journey starts, Horsburgh chair the joint board, with two Japan Post members and 10 secondees


-- Toll will not allow its offshore expansion task to loosen its domestic focus, managing director Brian Kruger tells ATN... Speaking on the first day of its full ownership by Japan Post, which wants Toll to lead its global growth strategy, Kruger made plain his management is aware of the distraction trap and feels Toll is well-placed to avoid it... The new board includes a combination of senior Japan Post executives and former Toll Board members Ray Horsburgh and Nicola Wakefield Evans, with Horsburgh to act as chairman...
(Photo: Japan Post president and CEO Toru Takahashi and Toll Group managing director Brian Kruger mark the first official day of Japan Post’s ownership of Toll Group)  -- Homebush Bay, NSW, Australia - Fully Loaded, by Rob McKay - 29 May 2015

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NATIONAL REGISTRATION SYSTEM FOR TUCKS * Australia: Will take us three years

* ACT - National regulator has a lot to do to get a national heavy vehicle registration scheme in place


-- The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) believes it can deliver a national heavy vehicle registration scheme in the next three years... Transport ministers last week directed the regulator to work toward implementing the scheme by July 1, 2018... During a recent interview, NHVR CEO Sal Petroccitto highlighted a three-year timeframe as necessary to build the system and get it up and running... Petroccitto says a national registration scheme will provide a single common database that will allow trucking operators to register their vehicles and help the NHVR to keep track of trucks on the road and what accreditation they have... The NHVR gained the go-ahead to develop a new registration system last week when Australia’s transport ministers voted in favour of it at a Transport and Infrastructure Council meeting... The meeting also voted in favour of extending chain of responsibility to heavy vehicle maintenance – a move the trucking industry has welcomed... 
Canberra, ACT, Australia - Fully Loaded, by Brad Gardner - 29 May 2015

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TRUCKING CHAIN OF RESPONSABILITY * Australia - Delays gave time to get the message out in WA

* Western Australia - Long WA COR lead-in time a boon to the industry

-- The delayed introduction of chain of responsibility law in Western Australia proved to be blessing for those tasked with helping businesses and individuals understand their obligations... Chain of responsibility covering vehicle mass, dimension and load restraint took effect in WA in late April, three years after legislation enshrining it was passed... Under chain of responsibility law in WA, those loading a light or heavy vehicle, scheduling deliveries, receiving freight or supplying a vehicle can all be held liable for overloading or an illegally restrained load... Chain of responsibility has traditionally been limited to the trucking industry, but Main Roads says it decided to extend the provisions to light vehicles to gain the greatest road safety benefit... The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) has welcomed WA’s actions, which align the state with other jurisdictions that already have chain of responsibility for vehicle mass, dimension and load restraint breaches... 
(Photo: WA operators were aware of the proposed changes)  --  Perth, WA, Australia - Fully Loaded, by Brad Gardner - 28 May 2015

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posted by Unknown @ 8:22 AM  0 comments

May 29, 2015

AUTONOMOUS TRUCKS * USA: Driverless convoy

* New York - Will truckers lose out to software?

(Photo - Inside Daimler's autonomous lorry. Living the dream: Daimler's new autonomous lorries drive themselves while the safety driver can read a book, watch the game or write a bestseller)

 -- Sleepiness and stress are perennial risks for the long distance lorry driver, and accidents are sadly too frequent. However, a radical new driverless truck being trialled by Daimler may offer a solution... Using a combination of GPS, radar and video cameras, the Freightliner Inspiration can drive by itself on open stretches of road, freeing a driver to take breaks, check his emails and even watch DVDs... The catch is that a qualified person must remain in front of the wheel at all times so they can take control if something goes wrong... However, proponents say that the technology, once perfected, will reduce accidents by lessening the chance of human error, boost productivity and cut emissions...


(Photo: The dashboard showing that the vehicle is in autonomous mode) 

... It is perhaps ironic that fully driverless vehicles are already being used in low-speed, controlled environments... Rio Tinto, for instance, operates over 50 self-drive trucks at its mines in Pilbara, Australia... Where things get tricky is moving these vehicles onto public roads, with other vehicles and pedestrians... Daimler's truck, for example, only works on freeways, and a human must take over when it reaches city streets - a far more "complicated traffic environment", according to the company... He gives the example of a fully self-driving truck, which unexpectedly hits an object that has fallen onto a highway and loses control... The truck may at this point have to make a choice: veer to the right onto a walkway, where a mother and her children are walking and would be killed; or to the left where three elderly people are crossing the road...

(Photo: Rio Tinto operates over 50 self-drive trucks at its mines in Pilbara, Australia)

... Perhaps not surprisingly only two US states - Nevada and California - have granted licences for the testing of autonomous vehicles on public roads - and both require 'safety' drivers to be present... Almost every automaker is now piloting or using forms of autonomous driving technology - and the market for hardware and software could be worth $40-$60m by 2030... Still, jumping further into the future, what specifically would the impact be if trucks like Daimler's become ubiquitous - and drivers became mere accessories? ... According to the American Trucker Association, in the US alone, there are 3.5 million professional truck drivers, and an additional 5.2 million people employed within the trucking industry who don't operate vehicles...

(Photo: Driverless lorries could see the end of blockades by striking truck drivers in Europe) 

... That's a whopping 8.7 million trucking-related jobs that could face some form of displacement... There could be upsides too, though, not least in terms of safety. In 2012, 330,000 large trucks were involved in crashes in the US, killing nearly 4,000 people, the majority of them caused by driver error... However, according to one study, driverless trucks could in future reduce collisions by more than 70%, as they'll drive more slowly and react to challenging environments, generally, in the safest way... Another plus is that autonomous drivers could help tackle skills shortages... According to the American Trucking Associations, the US trucking industry could see a shortfall of some 240,000 qualified drivers by 2022... While at the moment this is just speculation, the mass production of self-driving trucks seems inevitable - and the results will be hard to ignore...
N.Y., USA -  BBC News (UK), by Daniel Thomas - 26 May 2015

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PROTECTING CICLISTS * USA: With TRUCK SIDE GUARDS

* Massachusetts - Biking in cycle-friendly Cambridge is safer with new truck side guards
-- Back in December, Cambridge officials moved ahead with an implementation plan for side guards on city-owned trucks to protect pedestrians and cyclists from getting pulled underneath in the unfortunate chance a collision occurs... Cambridge partnered up with the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center to resign, install and draft a strategy for the side guards on heavy-duty trucks... Boston became the first city in the nation to mandate certain sized city trucks be equipped with the protective measure back in October. Data from across the pond, though, indicates that side guards do, in fact, work... The move to add side guards comes as no surprise, really, as Cambridge is consistently ranked as one of the top – if not the number one – bike-friendly city in the entire nation. It's policy, infrastructure, and governmental support have propelled cycling to the transportation mode of choice for many residents, as well as students at one of the city's prestigious higher-ed institutions... 
(Image via City of Cambridge)   --  Cambridge, MASS, USA - BostInno, by Nick DeLuca - 25 May 2015

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posted by Unknown @ 9:42 AM  0 comments

CONTAINER PORT TRUCKING * Australia - It's increasing despite the fewer number of ships

* ACT - The container transport load is increasing at capital city ports

-- But despite that, some indicators, particularly related to landside performance where trucks are involved, are struggling to keep pace... In its 56th Waterline report on container-port performance, the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) points out that the 3 per cent container-handling growth for July to December compared with the same period last year marks a return to trend but one that is not reflected evenly across ports... The headline figures here are: Fremantle increased by 11.3 per cent, Sydney by 3.5 per cent, Brisbane by 2 per cent, and Melbourne by 1.7 per cent, while Adelaide declined by 2.6 per cent... Fewer but bigger ships are calling, and they are handling more 40-foot containers than 20-foot containers... Reflecting this, though not precisely, the total number of used truck timeslots in the five main ports increased 4.4 per cent in the September quarter and 3.1 per cent in the December quarter, as compared with the corresponding periods of 2013... Similarly, the number of truck slots available in September and December quarters was 3.3 per cent and 2.4 per cent higher than a year ago...
 (Photo: Container trucks, at Fremantle Port)  --  Canberra, ACT, Australia - Fullyloaded - 26 May 2015

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posted by Unknown @ 9:25 AM  0 comments

FOOD TRUCKS * USA: Food truck will grow and morph in the future

* Texas - Four wheels, creative meals: City embraces food trucks


-- More than a decade ago, chef Brian Hay saw the rise of food trucks in Austin, Texas, where he ran a culinary school... Hay, now the director of the University of South Carolina’s Culinary and Wine Institute, thought the trucks were inventive, creative and fun. Many of the owners also were pushing the boundaries of street cuisine. He thought the trend would be short-lived... What
Hay thought was a passing interest has firmly taken hold in Columbia. In 2011, the city issued seven food truck permits. Today, that number has nearly doubled to 13, down slightly from a high of 15 last year... Hay predict that the Columbia’s food truck scene will continue to grow and morph in the future... 
 ▪ The cuisine will branch out into new directions, as owners try to find new niches. 
 ▪ Some food truck operators will transition into full-fledged restaurants, and more restaurants will get into the food truck business. 
 ▪ In addition to more food truck rodeos, some owners will band together to form food truck parks, where groups of trucks stay permanently on a leased lot, creating a sort of outdoor food court. 
... They are popular because the food is fun, often as high quality as sit-down restaurants, and it’s usually cheaper... 
 (Photo, by Matt Walsh - Carol Rogers Papaletsos prepares for the lunch crowd at 302 Artisans on Senate Street. Chef and owner of Ambrosia, a Greek catering company in Columbia. Papaletsos is an example of how the food truck business is diversifying and continues to the the Capital City)  --  Austin, TXS, USA - The State, by Jeff Wilkinson - May 25, 2015

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posted by Unknown @ 9:03 AM  0 comments

NEIGHBORS COMPLAINTS * USA: TRUCKS POLLUTION

* Colorado - Residents seek resolution to coal mine woes. King Coal II management meeting with neighbors


(Following up on King Coal II - Video from InsideDurangoTV - InsideDurangoTVCoal mining activity has occurred with GCC which ramped up operations and currently extracts about nine hundred thousand tons of coal each year. It has applied for a BLM lease to expand the mine. The growth in operations has been accompanied by corresponding growth in heavy truck traffic along County Road 120, and residents say it has negatively impacted their quality of life and the safety of County Road 120) 

 -- Neighbors of a coal mine southwest of Hesperus have formed an advisory panel, and have been working for months to tackle concerns raised by the mine’s truck traffic and water consumption... Trucks for the King II Coal Mine make at least 240 trips a day along County Road 120, and truck drivers have been known to run other vehicles off the road, said Jean Graham, a neighbor and member of the panel. The trucks create an unhealthy level of noise, she said... Neighbors also would like to reach resolution on noise from trucks, which can reach 82 decibels,  Graham said. This is equivalent to the sound of a freight train passing 50 feet away. It is also well above the standard of about 70 decibels for industrial zones, he said... Another concern for the neighbors is the mine’s water consumption. The panel met with company management Friday, for a presentation about the mine’s water rights and usage... The mine uses about 1 million gallons a month provided by ditch rights and water trucks from Durango, Graham said...
 Durango, COL, USA - The Durango Herald, by Mary Shinn - May 25, 2015

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May 28, 2015

PRESENT TRUCKERS' H.O.S. * USA: Safety improvement or not ?

* New York - A foolish attempt to weaken truck safety
-- The trucking industry is again pushing Congress to allow bigger and heavier trucks with overworked drivers behind the wheel onto the country’s roads... Republican lawmakers have attached a long industry wish list to an appropriations bill that will be voted on by the House in the coming weeks. It includes provisions that would allow trucks to carry longer trailers across the country, make it harder for the Department of Transportation to require drivers get more rest before they hit the road and forbid the department from raising the minimum insurance it requires trucks and buses to carry. The insurance levels have been in effect since 1985... Trucking companies seem to have been emboldened by their success last year in getting Congress to temporarily suspend parts of a Transportation Department regulation meant to give truck drivers at least 34 hours of rest. That rule was meant to ensure that truck drivers got at least two consecutive nights of rest after working 60 hours in seven consecutive days or 70 hours in eight days. The industry had complained — wrongly in our view — that the rule, which went into effect in July 2013, “exacerbates congestion” and could make highways less safe by forcing more truck drivers onto the roads during morning rush hours... The language in the House appropriations bill will forbid the Obama administration from fully reinstating that rule unless a study shows that the rule resulted in a “statistically significant” improvement in safety, work schedules and driver fatigue, health and longevity. That is an impossibly high bar to meet and, if enacted, the measure will surely result in more tired and sleepy drivers on the road... It is hard to know for sure why the number of fatal accidents increased. It could be that there were more trucks on the road in 2013 than during the recession. But this data should give lawmakers serious pause before they make major changes to trucking regulations in an appropriations bill...
(Photo from Associated Press, by Eric Gay)  --  NY, USA - The NYT - May 26, 2015

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posted by Unknown @ 9:30 AM  0 comments

May 27, 2015

DRIVERS WANTED * USA: Desperately

* Tennessee - Trucking shortage nearing 40,000 nationwide

By the numbers

 * 3.4 million — Number of truck drivers in the U.S. 
* 1.3 million — Number of carriers in the U.S. 
* $ 41,930 — Average driver salary nationwide 
* 35,000 to 45,000 — Drivers currently needed. 
* 239,000 — Projected drivers needed by 2022. 
* 96 percent — Average turnover rate in long-haul trucking fleets. 
* 9.96 billion — Freight tonnage moved by truck last year. 
* 70 percent — Average amount of American freight moved by truck. 
* 37 billion — Gallons of diesel fuel consumed each year by freight trucks. 
Source: American Trucking Associations, U.S Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics
 -- The country right now is smack in the middle of a major driver shortage nearing 40,000 empty seats, according to the American Trucking Associations... And that has to change, say carrier executives and industry experts — even if it means dangling $50,000, $60,000 a year in front of recruits... All that Rob Hatchett vice president of recruiting at Covenant Transport thinks is about drivers. How to get drivers, how to keep them and how to make Covenant more appealing than the other 500,000-plus trucking firms in the country, as counted by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration... Hatchett thinks about how to overcome growing driver frustrations with federal hours of service, maximum truck speed and electronic trip log regulations... He wonders how much money nontruckers have to have to make the jump... Covenant has over 2,700 trucks and 6,700 trailers and ran an average 912 driving teams during first quarter of this year... And still, the company could find work for newcomers immediately. Covenant has upped its driver pay more than once... Brand-new drivers out of training start out making up to $46,000 a year. Experienced drivers start at around $55,000. Teams make $120,000 or more... It's better pay than many recent college graduates find in today's workforce...
(Photo by Doug Strickland/Times Free Press: Re West Transportation's Jerry Sabatino, right, talks with trucker Patrick Withrow, 32, at a recent trucking jobs fair at Chattanooga State) -- Chattanooga, TENN, USA - Times Free Press, by Alex Green - May 24th, 2015

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TRUCKERS' DRIVING = FUEL EFFICIENCY * USA: ... "Take it easy"

* Illinois - Truckers' secret to fuel efficiency ... 
-- Mario Enriquez says there's no real trick to getting great fuel mileage in a big truck... "Just take it easy," says the 61-year-old native of El Paso, who's driven an 18-wheeler for 11 years. "I don't gun the engine, I just gradually give it the gas" ... Enriquez averaged 9.74 miles per gallon from February to April in an International ProStar made by Navistar International Corp. For that, his employer, Mesilla Valley Transportation (MVT)... The mileage performance Enriquez and truckers like him can achieve with current trucks is significant because it could influence how far the U.S.A. government pushes heavy truck makers to boost the average fuel economy of future Class 8 trucks - the over-the-road haulers like the ones MVT operates... Brad Pinchuk, President at Hirschbach Motor Lines, has hired driver coaches to help improve driver efficiency. PeopleNet software in the trucks flags drivers for excessive repeated braking, which can indicate risky driving and also wastes fuel... Mesilla Valley Transportation CEO Royal Jones says many of his drivers average over 10 miles per gallon - though his fleet average is around 9 miles because short-haul drivers burn more fuel, since a truck can burn a gallon of diesel launching from a stop... MVT drivers have their top speed capped at 62 miles per hour using software, but any driver who gets over 8 miles per gallon is allowed to go up to 65 miles per hour... "If you're getting 10 miles per gallon, you're way ahead of the curve," Jones said. "But it is doable" ...  
 (Photo: Mesilla Valley Transportation Adopts ATDynamics' TrailerTail)  --  East Dubuque, ILL, USA - Reuters, by Nick Carey & Nick Zieminski - May 25, 2015

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posted by Unknown @ 11:48 AM  0 comments

* India - SEVEN YEARS TO SET ASSEMBLY TRUCK PLANT in

* Guangdong Province - Problems loom for China in India's investment environment
-- India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, witnessed the signing of US$20 billion in cooperative agreements between Chinese and Indian enterprises in Shanghai on May 16, the last leg of his three-day tour of China, reports the Guangzhou-based Southern Weekly... New collaboration will not be without its hitches. "In India, you will encounter problems beyond your imagination," said Zou Yan, a Chinese engineer dispatched by a Chinese heavy-duty truck maker to India for two years... "Poor efficiency" is the common gripe shared by Zou and his non-Indian colleagues towards India. "It took as long as seven years for the Chinese truck maker to set up a car assembly plant in India, from finding investment to the official start of operation," Zou said. "India has a huge market, prompting almost all the major car and motorcycle brands to invest in the country. And if you don't invest in India, you can't get any share of the profit. What counts most is that India is taking the initiative to open its market to China," Zou said... India's undesirable bureaucratic rules mainly stem from its long-term implementation of a planned economy system... Chinese enterprises have their own problems in investing in India, in that they lack social responsibility for Indians, tend to remain on the down-low, and hardly localize their operations, according to an Indian editor at the South China Morning Post. Chinese investors get accustomed to dealing with the government sector, but fail to interact well with non-government organizations, local communities, and even the media in India, he added...
(Photo/CFP - Employees assemble door frames for a vehicle at a car plant in Greater Noida, India, July 2013)  --  Guangzhou, Guangdong province, China - Want China Times - 27 May 2015

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EXTRA SHIPMENTS FOR TRUCKING * USA: 'Cargomatic' = "Uber for Trucks" / 'PeopleNET' buys "Cadec Global"

* California - 'Uber of trucks' hauls big business in Los Angeles

-- Big trucks cost more than $150,000 to purchase, warehouses charge to use their services and it can cost as much as $1,000 just to fill up a tank before heading down the highway. So the extra bucks are coming in handy... The Cargomatic app start nearly a year ago to fill space on the truck with additional shipments... "Business is up 35% since. Over $120,000", says Cesar Lopez who runs his own independent trucking company... The idea from Jonathan Kessler and Brett Parker is that the 700 truckers working with Cargomatic, catch from $500 to $2,500 extra per shipments by working with the app... "We fill space on the trucks," says Kessler. "So Instead of being 50% full, now they're 75% full" ... Cargomatic, which currently operates just in southern California and New York. And is working with companies like Williams-Sonoma, Perry Ellis and Bass Pro Shops, offering lower priced local shipments. When a new shipment comes in, it's broadcast to Cargomatic's network of truckers, along with the warehouse address and final destination... One investor is Volvo Group, which sold off its car business, and now makes 70% of its profits from its fleet of new trucks... 
(Photo by Sean Fujiwara - The "Uber for truckers" which lets them know about new shipments to fill extra space on their rigs, all from an app. #TalkingTech)  --  Compton, CAL, USA - USA TODAY, by Jefferson Graham - May 23, 2015


* Minnesota - PeopleNet buys truck-tracking tech company

-- PeopleNet bought Cadec Global Inc., a New Hampshire-based maker of truck-tracking software, for an undisclosed amount... Minnetonka-based PeopleNet makes mobile devices and systems for fleets of commercial vehicles. The acquisition allows PeopleNet to expand further into the market for monitoring private and foodservice-industry truck fleets... The combined business will have 500 employees, PeopleNet said in a statement. Cadec will remain headquartered in Manchester, New Hampshire...
(Photo by STEFANO LUNARDI - PeopleNet makes mobile devices and systems for fleets of commercial vehicles)  --  Minnetonka, MINN, USA - The St. Paul Business Journal, by Katharine Grayson - May 26, 2015

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May 26, 2015

FASHION TRUCKS * USA

* DC -  Fashion trucks crisscross Anne Arundel County and beyond
-- Laura Layton has put hundreds of miles on the odometer of her used 1997 Chevrolet step van — all in the name of fashion... Layton, one of three mobile fashion truck owners in Anne Arundel County, sells fair trade Bohemian dresses and locally crafted jewelry from the back of her truck. For a young entrepreneur with a fashion merchandising degree, this is her livelihood on wheels... Washington, DC, USA - Capital Style Magazine, by Wendi Winters - May 24, 2015

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AGING TRUCKS * Philippines: Eases rule on

* Manila - Operators can file appeal if truck still roadworthy


-- Age is relative, after all, even for trucks... After drawing protests last week, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) agreed to let operators of old trucks prove their roadworthiness and skirt a year-old policy that imposes an age limit on cargo haulers... Operators of trucks-for-hire may now file an appeal for their franchise to remain valid under a new provision approved by the LTFRB... The agency’s plan to phase out trucks that are 15 years old and above drew protests from transports groups on May 18, particularly those servicing the ports in Manila... According to Teddy Gervacio, president of the Integrated North Harbor Truckers Association, around 2,000 to 3,000 trucks have been phased out since last year under the LTFRB policy... Gervacio warned that of the 300,000 trucks nationwide, up to 80 percent would be taken off the road if the policy is not modified...
(Photo)    --  Manila, Philippines - The Philippine Daily Inquirer, by Erika Sauler - May 24, 2015

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* USA: INTRODUCING A NATIONAL HIRING STANDARD FOR TRUCKERS

* DC - Fischer-Blunt bill follows House version introduced in February

-- Legislation introduced in the Senate would establish a national hiring standard for motor carriers, a move supporters said would clarify industry practices for hiring trucking companies and would no longer force shippers, freight brokers, and third-party logistics providers to make hiring decisions based on faulty and imprecise data... The legislation would deem a motor carrier to be safe to operate if it is properly licensed, has adequate insurance, and has a better than "unsatisfactory" rating from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the subagency of the Department of Transportation that oversees truck safety. Supporters say the language sets clear guidelines for shippers and intermediaries to follow when selecting a motor carrier. Those guidelines don't exist today, they maintain. Instead, users said they are often asked to determine on their own which carriers are safe and which are not, even though it is the FMCSA's role to make that assessment... FMCSA oversees about 530,000 registered truck drivers with only 330 inspectors, Jack Van Steenburg, the agency's chief safety officer and assistant administrator... CSA and other tools have enabled FMCSA to concentrate its enforcement efforts on about 8,000 high-risk carriers responsible for about 90 percent of all reportable accidents involving a truck, Van Steenburg said... 
(Photo from Arizona Daily Star: A U.S. Department of Transportation inspector uses a creeper to examine a Mexican semi-trailer undergoing a level 1 inspection at the Arizona Department of Transportation Motor Carrier Inspection Station)  --  Washington, DC, USA - DC Velocity - May 22, 2015

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BORDER TROUBLES * USA / Mexico: Disproportionate U.S. inspections hurt trade

* Arizona - FMCSA personel carry out a a complete check of both the driver and equipment

-- The presence of federal transportation inspectors at Arizona’s international ports of entry continues to put the state at a disadvantage when competing for the billions of dollars in trade between Mexico and the United States, officials say... “It makes us less competitive, especially Nogales, over other ports of entry like McAllen, Laredo and Tijuana,” said Alejandro Andrade, president of the Nogales-based Safe Border Trucking Association. “Right now we have 17 (federal) inspectors here. In Otay Mesa, in California, they have zero. The inefficiency this produces and the cost it represents for Nogales exporters and importers is significant,” he said... Arizona’s international ports of entry have had a disproportionately high number of level one inspections, along with fines and out-of-service orders, when compared to ports in Texas and California, state transportation officials say... ADOT inspectors share the booth with their federal counterparts and either of them can request that a truck be sent back for additional inspection, based on their opinion... For the trucking and produce industry, this is where federal inspectors are hurting business... The goal of industry and state lobbying before the federal agency is to eliminate what amounts to an unfair trade barrier for Arizona, said the fresh produce industry’s Moore...
(Photo: Arizona Department of Transportation Enforcement officer Jose Estrada runs a level 1 inspection on the undercarriage of a Mexican based semi-tractor and trailer in the bay of the ADOT Motor Carrier Inspection Station at the Mariposa Port of Entry)   --  Nogales, AZ, USA - The Arizona Daily Star, by Luis F. Carrasco - May 23, 2015

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May 25, 2015

TRUCKMAKERS NEWS * USA: Navistar's - Mack's

* Illinois - Navistar opens new proving grounds to test heavy trucks

-- Navistar, maker of International Trucks, announced Monday the opening of its new proving grounds in New Carlisle, Ind., where the company will test commercial trucks, school buses and military vehicles... Recently purchased from Robert Bosch LLC, the 668-acre site includes: 
* A three-mile paved and banked oval with brake testing capabilities that include infrastructure, complete instrumentation and computerized data acquisition. 
* Structural durability testing/accelerated mile accumulation with road profile capability using accelerometer and strain gage data and multiple road surfaces including chatter, impact, cobblestone, undulating, resonance road surfaces, high speed oval, gravel, body/chassis twist event and off- road surfaces 
* And specialized testing such as vehicle noise and handling, center-of-gravity, rollover and roof crush testing, grade-ability up to 60 percent, traction control, powertrain durability among others ... Bill Kozek, president, Navistar Truck and Parts, says the new Navistar Proving Grounds is a strategic addition to product development operations... 
 Warrensville, ILL, USA - CCJ Digital, by Lucas Deal - May 21, 2015


* Pennsylvania - Mack Trucks has deliveries increase 14 percent
-- Mack Trucks assembles several truck models at its facility in Lower Macungie Township, including the Mack Pinnacle. Through the first four months of the year, Mack has delivered 8,895 heavy-duty trucks, up 14 percent from last year... Mack Trucks is hauling a double-digit increase in deliveries through the first four months of the year... So far this year, Mack deliveries are up 14 percent. Here is the market breakdown: 
 • North America: 8,228 (up from 7,326) 
 • South America: 393 (up from 218) 
 • Asia: 23 (up from 3) 
 • Other Markets: 251 (down from 280) 
 Total Trucks Delivered: 8,895 (up from 7,827). 
(Mack Trucks' Photo: A Mack's truck. Deliveries jump 14 percent)   --   Lower Macungie Township, - The Morning Call, by Jon Harris - 22 May 2015

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TRUCKERS' SAFETY * USA: To remain in trucks at port terminals

* California - Port terminal operator to require truck drivers to stay in trucks at its terminals

-- By the end of 2016, APM Terminals’ will require all truckers entering their facilities to remain in their trucks... This effort should eliminate one of the top high-risks areas in terminal operations that lead to injuries, the Netherlands-based company announced late last month. Most accidents occur when truckers are driving or waiting in the terminal yard, according to APM’s Jeff De Best... APM owns and manages terminals at major ports around the world... The lead risk areas associated with 90 percent of fatalities at terminal facilities are moving freight; suspended loads and lifting; stored energy or electricity; working at heights and control of outside contractors in the terminal. Truckers and other non-terminal employees are often at the greatest risk of injury during operations... The container terminal operating company describes itself as North America’s largest terminal operator, with operations in Los Angeles, Miami and six other major U.S. ports... 
(Photo: LA port containers) Los Angeles, CAL, USA - Overdrive, by Jill Dunn - May 20, 2015

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TRUCKERS' MISSCLASIFICATION at Los Angeles Ports * USA

* California - L.A. County Supervisors to consider proposal to aid port truck drivers
-- The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to consider a number of actions to help truck drivers who work at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach they believe have been misclassified as independent contractors and as result have lost wages... Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas introduced a motion requiring county staff to report to the board in 60 days on program that would: Conduct outreach and workshops for truck drivers and employers; allow the county Department of Consumer and Business Affairs to conduct investigations of complaints and give advice to workers who are filing complaints; explore implementing a policy that would prohibit the county from entering into contracts with companies that have had wage law violations; and support state legislation that addresses the issue... The majority of the 16,000 truck drivers who service both ports are classified as independent contractors rather than employees and do not qualify for minimum wage, overtime pay, unemployment benefits or workers compensation, according to a report by Brian J. Stiger, director of the county’s Department of Business and Consumer Affairs. Trucking companies also can deduct business expenses from the drivers pay, such as fuel and maintenance costs... By example: Daniel Linares, a driver for Pac 9 Transportation, testified Tuesday that he had a gross income of $1,345, but after deductions taken by the company, he took home only $438. “Can you imagine working like this hauling valuable cargo?” he said... The California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement ruled last year that Linares was misclassified as a independent contractor, he said...
 (Photo: San Pedro Bay, Los Angeles Port)   --   Los Angeles, CAL, USA - The Los Angeles Daily News, by Sarah Favot - 19 May 2015

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May 24, 2015

THE DRIVER SHORTAGE * USA & Canada: I's not only just about being away from home

* Ontario - Truck driving would be a great job: "If you could get paid for what you did"


-- Dave MacMillan is an owner-operator based in Parry Sound, Ontario, who has spent most of his 40-year driving career hauling produce from California. Currently, he drives a lumber truck locally and is paid by the hour. When the lumber hauling season is over he will study the rates and decide if he wants to put his truck back on the road or leave the business altogether...  He explains why the industry has trouble attracting and keeping drivers... "The driver shortage is bad, and it will continue to get worse," says MacMillan. "You can't attract young people to this industry anymore. When I was a kid all I ever wanted to do was drive a truck. Now, you look at this industry and you think, 'Geeze, I may stay away from home almost all year long, in and out, and only make $30,000. Or, I can go into construction, be home every night, and make $50,000.' It's not much of a choice" ... How do you attract and keep professional drivers? "I think the only way is to pay drivers by the hour, because there's so much time lost in transportation that paying by the mile just doesn't cut it. You spend so much time in traffic or sitting at shippers and receivers who abuse your time as a driver. Big carriers continue to pay by the mile, and they get what they pay for. At the end of the day, many of the really good drivers leave the industry because they're not making enough money. This trickles down and you end up with guys that really shouldn't even be on the road... You'll even get big carriers undercutting each other, then try to make up for hauling the cheap freight by trimming the drivers' paychecks…the burden for profit is shifted to the driver" ... MacMillan concludes: "I don't want to sound too harsh here, but it's kind of embarrassing to a lot of us [long-time professional drivers] to see the guys that drive trucks now. We hate to be painted with the same brush, but we are, and you can understand why the public does that. An awful lot of the guys who did this as a profession have left. It's a shame, because it's a good job, really. If you could get paid for what you did, it would be a great job" ...
Parry Sound, ONT, CAN - Fleet Owner, by Larry Kahaner - May 22, 2015

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TRUCKING SEARCH FOR YOUNG DRIVERS * USA: Comes up very short about

* New York - Trucking Industry:  40,000 drivers shortfall & aging workforce, bigger questions for the future 

-- The trucking industry says the average age of drivers is nearing 50, and trucking companies and their customers face a looming demographic problem because fewer younger workers are interested in filling empty seats... Kevin Young, a 37-year-old truck driver from Kentucky, is the third generation in his family to take to the open road and loves his job so much that he’s lost two marriages over it. Mr. Young, got his Commercial Driver’s License as soon as he was eligible at age 21...  The trucking industry is beginning to feel the impact of a shortfall of some 35,000 to 40,000 drivers needed to move goods, some believe this will grow to as much as 240,000 drivers by 2022, said Gail Rutkowski, executive director of the National Shippers Transportation Council, or NASSTRAC... Experts say there are many reasons behind the shortage, including more stringent work requirements as safety regulations have expanded and low pay that, despite recent gains, has made the tough working conditions tougher to bear. But trucking is also driving headlong into demographic reality: its workforce is getting older, and younger Americans are showing less interest in a career on the highway... This shortage is buffeting the trucking industry as the volume of goods grows with the economy... It is also increasing costs for shippers as carriers step up efforts to recruit and retain drivers... Carrier shipping rates have gone up 8% in a year “at a time when diesel fuel, which is typically one of the largest drivers of trucking cost, dropped nearly 25%” ...   Trucking cos. has had trouble keeping truck drivers for more than 10 months in its small private fleet that employs nine drivers because larger companies are in something of a poaching war, paying thousands of dollars in sign-on bonuses to attract new drivers... The ATA estimates more than a third of companies owning private fleets and less-than-truckload carriers, which carry goods for multiple shippers on one truck, are now offering signing bonuses. Nearly half of truckload carriers, which serve one shipper at a time and operate on longer routes, are doing the same... The shortage has had some benefit for drivers. The ATA said average driver pay across the industry was more than $54,585 in 2014, up 9% from about $50,000 in 2013... But the ability to attract a younger generation will depend on the industry’s ability to make trucking appealing again...  Although he is 37, Mr. Young, the truck driver from Kentucky, considers himself an old-timer on the road and thinks the next generation of young drivers don’t have a love of the job, he said. “If the young people would take more pride in it, it would be a lot better out here” ... 
(PHOTO - Kevin Young says truck driving is a lifestyle and a career that has cost him two marriages. His wife, Shannon Young, is applying for her Commercial Driver’s License to join him n the road) -- NY, USA - The WSJ. by LORETTA CHAO - May 19, 2015

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